Recruit Group Holdings Integrates Recruiting Brands

February 5, 2018 – In an effort to enhance the breadth of its recruiting services across Asia, RGF Hong Kong, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Recruit Holdings Co. – owner of global jobs platform Indeed – plans to integrate its seven brands into three service brands: RGF Executive Search, RGF Professional Recruitment and RGF HR Agent. The change takes effect in April.

Bó Lè Associates, which provides executive search services primarily in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, is to become part of the RGF Executive Search brand. BRecruit, which provides manager and specialist recruitment services to local and global companies in mainland China, will become part of the RGF Professional Recruitment brand. The company names, however, will remain unchanged.

“This brand integration will reinforce RGF’s competitive advantage, which stems from the Recruit Group’s unique expertise and track record spanning about 60 years in the recruitment business, as well as its investments in IT,” said Takashi Kuzuhara, president of RGF Hong Kong. “Another major strength is our robust network among executive and specialist personnel, and our extensive database of bilingual talent in Asia, which we have cultivated together with the companies we have acquired over more than 20 years. We will continue to grow our 1,300-plus-strong workforce as we strive to deliver even higher quality recruitment services to companies and jobseekers in Asia.”

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Distinct Characteristics

Each of the service brands will have distinct characteristics, said Recruit Holdings. RGF Executive Search will primarily focus on foreign-owned and local companies seeking leaders for senior executive to mid-level management roles. RGF Professional Recruitment is to be aimed at personnel for mid-level management up through to specialist roles. It will enable foreign-owned and local companies to use RGF’s extensive job seeker database to find local, bilingual staff. RGF HR Agent, for its part, will primarily serve Japanese companies with offices abroad and positions that require Japanese or Japanese-speaking personnel. To help find the best candidates, the firm said it will draw on its deep understanding of Japanese companies and its large database of Japanese-speaking personnel.

“China’s market continues to grow rapidly, creating fierce demand for talent,” said David Chan, head of RGF Executive Search in Greater China and CEO of Bó Lè Associates. “Many second-tier cities are currently experiencing talent scramble due in part to government housing subsidies for highly-educated candidates. The diversified HR services offered by Bó Lè Associates, BRecruit and RGF HR Agent are becoming more and more essential to full-scale talent consulting. In addition to our strong network, I believe that brand integration provides us with new opportunities to service broader talent markets.”

Bó Lè Associates Appoints New CEOBó Lè Associates has announced that Pierre Zhuang has resigned as CEO and the board named David Chan, managing director and its Shanghai office head, as its new CEO. Mr. Chan will oversee all nine offices across mainland China, Hong Kong and Taipei. He is expected to help drive growth and innovation for Bó Lè Associates Greater China.

A Big Impact

Sanjay R Shastry, managing director and CEO of RGF Executive Search India, described India as a dynamic market with major disruptive changes occurring in the banking, infrastructure, renewable energy and digital technology areas. “These changes will greatly impact talent acquisition and management needs,” he said. “Technologies such as automation, predictive analytics, robotics and AI are prompting fundamental shifts in skill requirements across all levels of an organization. This is an opportune moment for Recruit Holdings’ international recruiting business to rebrand itself as an organization offering unique HR services to meet evolving corporate needs.”

John Tucker, regional head of Southeast Asia and Japan for RGF Executive Search, is leading the change. “We want clients and candidates to know they can expect the same world-class service from us in all the markets where we operate, so we’re excited about aligning all of RGF’s businesses in Asia under these three clear, focused service brands,” he said.

RGF began offering Japanese-speaking recruitment services in Shanghai in 2006, in response to the rising need for full-time employees in Asia, said the firm. As business expanded in the region, RGF also acquired CDSi (Japan), Bó Lè Associates (China), BRecruit (China), and the franchise operations of a leading search firm in India.

An Optimal Match

Through a local-to-local focus on the permanent recruiting market in each individual city and country, the company has helped to make the optimal match of personnel to companies, said Recruit Holdings. Today, RGF provides services in 11 countries and markets, and 26 cities, drawing on local market knowledge amassed over many years, as well as broad networking capabilities. In Asia, the company has placed over 40,000 personnel, from the staff ranks to the executive level, and established a strong reputation in the region.

The shift of global companies toward localization and local companies in Asia becoming more globalized has fueled substantial growth in the permanent recruiting market. The demand for employment by those looking to acquire global experience, regardless of job function and tenure in the workplace, is also increasing and is expected to accelerate.

In response, RGF said it plans to deliver optimal, cross-border recruitment solutions that transcend national and city boundaries. RGF is looking to integrate its service brands to match the characteristics of target market participants, both jobseekers and companies seeking to hire. The firm also intends to strengthen its organizational governance in conjunction with this move.

Renaming Companies

“Enhancing RGF’s services in this manner will enable recruitment officers to search for the best personnel at every level from across all of Asia through its closest regional location,” the firm said. “It will also rapidly connect jobseekers with opportunities for career advancement across national and city borders.”

Founded in 1960, Recruit Holdings, a $15 billion powerhouse with 45,000-plus group employees, creates and provides platforms that connect companies and consumers. The company provides a wide range of services, including HR technology, recruitment advertisement, employment placement, staffing, housing and real estate, among others.

Owns Indeed

Relatively unknown in the U.S., Recruit Holdings has been using its multi-billion dollar fortune to become the largest full-service recruiting provider connecting people with jobs, bypassing executive recruiters along the way. Its 2012 acquisition of the American job aggregator Indeed for an estimated $1 billion has created a global platform system for virtual recruiting. Just 18 months ago, Recruit Holdings acquired the assets of Indeed competitor Simply Hired, which is now a publishing partner of Indeed.

Recruit Holdings has used Indeed to help expand its footprint in North America and Europe and deepen its presence in Asian markets. Indeed is the leading job site worldwide, with over 200 million unique visitors per month, said the company. Indeed is available in more than 60 countries and 28 languages.